Idea Cellular to Sell 3G Services on $300 Smart Phones in India

May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Idea Cellular Ltd., India’s third- largest mobile-telecommunications company by market value, will sell 3G services on $300 smart phones in a country where the average monthly mobile-phone bill is $5.

Growing use of basic data services such as text messaging in the world’s second-largest mobile-phone market indicates demand for video calls, mobile banking and other 3G features, said Akshaya Moondra, Idea’s chief financial officer. Prices on the smartphone handsets may go down by as much as two thirds in 18 months, he said in an interview in Mumbai on May 26.

“It’s almost like entering a whole new industry, with no historical frames in India,” said Moondra. “You can’t really predict consumer behavior. What you have are trends from developed markets in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.”